Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

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slothmann
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Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

#1

Post by slothmann » 05 Oct 2015, 18:31

What anti-tank weapons were used in the Spanish civil war and did either side use anti tank rifles?

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Ironmachine
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Re: Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

#2

Post by Ironmachine » 06 Oct 2015, 08:34

The main anti-tank weapon was obviously the anti-tank gun. In this category the main models were the German PaK 35/36 of 37mm and the Soviet 45mm Mod.1932, but other guns were also used, like the Maklen M.1917 (37mm), the 37mm Bofors, the Italian 47/32 Mod.35, and more, some in very small numbers. Additionally, other guns were employed as anti-tank weapons, like the 40mm Arellano, the Schenider 70/16, the Italian 65/17 Mod.1913, etc.
Less formal methods such as improvised explosive devices or molotov cocktails were also used; in a dire situation, even light weapons with piercing ammunition could do as the armour of the tanks used in the war was fairly thin. However, the importance of these methods gradually decreased as the number of anti-tank guns increased.
Regarding the use of anti-tank rifles in the SCW, it seems that a Spanish prototype of an anti-tank rifle, in 8x87 caliber, was used by the defenders during the siege of El Alcázar, but obviously not in an anti-tank role. In the internet you can find some claims (AFAIK unsourced) that the Republicans bought some Mauser T-Gewehr rifles, but they were not employed in combat. And that seems to be all, so I would say that it is safe to assume that anti-tank rifles were not used in the SCW.
Regards.


slothmann
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Re: Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

#3

Post by slothmann » 06 Oct 2015, 12:09

Thankyou for the reply,
Was the use of Molotov cocktails very commonplace? And any Idea how many Anti-Tank Guns were used by either side?
Also were the Pak 35/36 used only by the Nationalist Troops or did both sides use whatever they could get their hands on?

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Ironmachine
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Re: Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

#4

Post by Ironmachine » 06 Oct 2015, 14:50

I would say that the use of Molotov cocktails was not very common, as the number of tanks was small at the beginning of the war and there were better anti-tank weapons even at that time, which were more effective than the cocktails in a wider range of environments.
The exact number of anti-tank guns used is still open to some controversy, but for the most important models a reasonable estimation would be:
Pak 35/36: about 290
Soviet 45mm: 138-145
Italian 47/32: 12
Bofors 37mm: 20-30
Maklen: 30
About the Pak 35/36, both sides (but it seems that much more so the Nationals) used captured weapons, so it is possible that a very small number of Paks could have been used by the Republicans, but ammunition supply would have been a great problem and they would not have been in service for a long time.

slothmann
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Re: Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

#5

Post by slothmann » 09 Oct 2015, 22:19

Thankyou for the answers they are much appreciated.

¡NO PASARAN!
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Re: Anti-Tank weapons used in the Spanish civil war?

#6

Post by ¡NO PASARAN! » 10 Nov 2015, 04:01

Ironmachine wrote:I would say that the use of Molotov cocktails was not very common, as the number of tanks was small at the beginning of the war and there were better anti-tank weapons even at that time, which were more effective than the cocktails in a wider range of environments.
The exact number of anti-tank guns used is still open to some controversy, but for the most important models a reasonable estimation would be:
Pak 35/36: about 290
Soviet 45mm: 138-145
Italian 47/32: 12
Bofors 37mm: 20-30
Maklen: 30
About the Pak 35/36, both sides (but it seems that much more so the Nationals) used captured weapons, so it is possible that a very small number of Paks could have been used by the Republicans, but ammunition supply would have been a great problem and they would not have been in service for a long time.
Molotov Cocktail were actually quite common and were invented during the scw by moroccan troops trying to fend off Pavlov's tanks during the battle for Sesena (missing squiggly line I know).

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